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Since 2000, I've been working daily with OneVision products, both the prepress and workflow automation solutions along with the Solvero file editor. The clear trend is that more and more routine work is being automated. In the beginning, even with the automatic solution, in our case the Prepress Suite "Asura" - it was still common for the delivered customer files to be copied by a person into a certain "hotfolder".

There are different print products that require different pre-testing and data preparation. People had to make this assignment by copying the correct file into the correct folder. Beginning in 2012 the workflow management system "Workspace" has been an integral part of Asura making this manual assignment no longer necessary. If you can use job tickets, barcodes, or metadata then Workspace can automate this assignment.

In this way, as many steps of the print production workflow as possible are largely automated. So where is the need to manually correct customer files? Here are three good reasons:

one-time jobs and special requirements

visually check preflight results

last-minute corrections

One-time jobs and special requirements

Although a good automation workflow can automate all print production processes, this is not always the most efficient approach. For one-off, very complex jobs, it can be advantageous to open them with a powerful file editor and make them ready for printing.

Visual inspection of preflight results

When a file is discarded by the preflight as non-producible, it can often be more pragmatic to simply correct the file instead of sending it back to the customer. Unfortunately, customer communication often means long delays and there is no guarantee that a new customer file can be produced quickly. The printing deadline is endangered and may have to be postponed, the machine utilization suffers. On the other hand, you can examine the files with a good PDF editor; minor errors are very often corrected in a few minutes and allow immediate printing.

Last-minute corrections

Once a file has completed the automatic prepress workflow, it should be error-free and ready to print. Nevertheless, corrections to the file may still be necessary. For example, typos, wrong colors, wrong images, wrong page order, etc. are discovered during a final visual inspection. Then one needs a file editor that can make all possible corrections even in closed file formats like PDF.

This is exactly why it is important to use a first-class file editor like Solvero to improve your bottom line. Corrections can be implemented at the last minute, print deadlines do not have to be postponed, machine utilization is not jeopardized, and the risk of misprints and reprints is significantly reduced.

A practical example:

A 16-page brochure is supplied. Shortly thereafter, the customer sends a new email and an improved version of page 7 that needs to be replaced. In addition, the page order is to be changed, which in turn will affect the pagination. Finally, he asks to change the lower text block on page 12 from color to grayscale. Such jobs are difficult to automate. With an editor like Solvero, that's an estimated 7.5 minutes.